Technical Field
The present invention relates to an operation unit and a game machine including the operation unit.
Related Art
Conventionally, there has been a game machine so-called a slot machine. In the slot machine, a plurality of reels displaying a plurality of kinds of symbols are spun. Then, according matching of symbols and a kind of matched symbols that are displayed in a window at the time when the reels stop, a prize is determined. Depending on the prize determined and the number of bets, an award is given. In the slot machine, an operation to input the number of bets and an operation to start a spin of the reels are performed by use of an operation unit provided on a front surface of the slot machine.
Such a slot machine is installed in a game facility such as a casino. In the game facility, slot machines manufactured by not only one game machine maker but also various game machine makers are installed. Each game player selects a machine that suits his/her preference, from among slot machines manufactured by various makers, and plays a game. Accordingly, such a game facility installs slot machines popular to game players so as to ensure the game facility's superiority to other competing game facilities.
In response to demands from game facilities, game machine makers are making an effort at developing a slot machine that can appeal to game players. In such circumstances, an operation unit on a front surface of a slot machine is considered very important. This is because the operation unit is a part that stands out in appearance and directly operated by game players.
Such a slot machine is marketed all around the word. Therefore, a display of the operation unit needs to correspond to a language of each country. Accordingly, a conventional operation unit has been arranged so that a top surface cover of a button can be detached by a tool like a driver. This arrangement has made it possible to insert a sheet corresponding to a language of each country under the top surface cover. However, detaching the top surface cover takes a lot of trouble and there has been a concern in causing a trouble such as damaging a button by the tool. Recently, a thin display device such as an LCD (liquid crystal display panel) or the like, where a display can be freely changed, is often used for the operation unit. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a slot machine including an operation unit provided with a touch panel in which a position input device is laminated on a thin display device. In such a slot machine, a character and/or a numeric keypad is displayed by use of the touch panel, and input of the number of bets and instruction to start a spin of reels can be made by use of the touch panel.